1. Field of Invention
The inventive concepts disclosed and claimed herein relate generally to improved methods for clean-up of oil spills and, more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to methods for clean-up of oil spills using onium halides to disperse and solubilize chemical constituents of the oil.
2. Brief Description of Related Art
Oil spills have become an international problem. Oil spills often result from oil tanker accidents; however, a number of other causes of oil spills exist including offshore drilling spills and blow-outs, land run-off, natural seepage, etc. The toxic nature of crude petroleum makes such spills a hazard to life in the oceans, on the oceans, and by the oceans, presenting a toxic environment for marine life, waterfowl, and other animals until effectively cleaned up. The most general means for clean-up are physical in nature: burns, containment booms, sorbents, and vacuums (pumps).
Use of chemicals in oil spill clean-up gets only minor consideration because of their general lack of effectiveness. For example, the COREXIT™ 9500 Dispersant used in the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, is not technically a dispersant, but rather an emulsifier causing water-in-oil emulsions. Proposed here are a class of chemicals that are not only useful for cleaning oil-contaminated areas, they are very effective for the clean-up of oil spills.
To this end, a need exists for methods capable of remediating oil contamination and for clean-up of oil spills. It is to such a process that the inventive concepts disclosed and claimed herein are directed.